UGH! Looks like more cold air next week

11 years ago

I wish I had better news. First, the cold front slated to move through Oklahoma late Wednesday or Thursday will have some pretty cold air behind it. Looks like 30's or lower statewide Thursday night and Friday night. Before the cold front moves through, we'll also have to deal with some large thunderstorms that will undoubtedly drop some big hail in some places. Please stay tuned to whatever your source for weather is, because Wednesday afternoon and/or evening could have all modes of significant severe weather across a lot of Oklahoma.

And if that isn't enough, most of the longer range computer models are showing another surge of cold air for Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Right now, that air looks just as cold or colder than what we are about to get.

Please don't blame the messenger. ;-)

Lee

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Comments (18)

Lisa_H OK
11 years ago
not complaining, not complaining, not complaining...it'll be 100 degrees before we know it. :)
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
11 years ago
Thanks, Lee.

I have gone ahead and planted tomato plants anyway but have the floating row cover to cover up the tomato plants. I may plant corn and beans this weekend. The prolonged cool weather is great for the cool-season plants, and after two previous hot springs, a mild spring is a nice change.

I'm agreeing with Lisa on this one. All too soon it will be far too hot. We've got to enjoy the cool temperatures while they last. I wish we could bottle up the cool air and save it for July.

I just hope nothing turns too severe on Wednesday, although it sure seems likely that someone will see severe weather--maybe a bunch of someones.

Dawn
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Yuck! No! I've been enjoying working outside on days when the highs were in the 60s and 70s. I've enjoyed walking outside shortly after sunrise to discover it already was 60 degrees and only going to get better. Now that it is going to be cold, I'll stay inside more. The weather will be better for the plants, because the unseasonably warm weather was encouraging them to break dormancy too early, but it won't be better for me. : )
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Scott, Are you serious? 22? How many hours did y'all stay that cold? Lee, When you said "May 10th" I felt sick, and then I read on and saw it would be only the 40s. Well, heck, compared to last night, the 40s are a piece of cake. Thanks for the heads up, though. It is a reminder that cold weather still can slap us around in May. I start putting more tomato plants in the ground tomorrow. And, for anyone interested, I covered up every planted row with my DeWitt 10-degree frost blanket, even the cool-season crops that didn't really need it. I figured since I had it, I'd use it. We were below freezing for about six hours, much of that time at 28 degrees, and there is not one speck of damage on anything growing in those rows that I covered, and that includes summer annual flowers growing as companion plants in the veggie beds. Next year I am going to plant more stuff earlier and just drag out the row cover as needed. There is a lot of dead foliage on trees and vines (trumpet creeper) that had leafed out, and my pecan tree got hit fairly hard, and now the tiny little leaves are shriveled up and just look sad. However, all those will bounce back fast. The comfrey was in bloom and was feeding tons of bees a day, and it froze back to the ground, but will regrow quickly. Considering how cold it got and how long it stayed before freezing, the amount of damage on trees, shrubs and vines is minimal and not unexpected. I heard the helicopters seem to have saved the peach crops at Livesay's Orchard in Porter. Yay! Dawn
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Lee, You're welcome. When you used the word 'panic', I wondered if I should be panicking too. I'm glad to hear the answer is no. : ) It is a great relief that the Euro is backing off a bit on the freezing temperatures. Let's hope that the chances of frost start dropping too. I hope you have a great visit with your parents, and I hope the weather behaves itself so y'all can have a good time together without having to run for shelter. I can handle frost. Freezes worry me, even with row cover, but mostly because all the trees, shrubs, perennials, etc. are emerged and leafed out and I cannot cover the whole yard. My hollies (old and well-established) suffered massive damage when we went to 28 degrees, and normally that wouldn't happen. However, we'd been having a lot of days in the mid-80s or warmer, and nights in the 50s-60s, and the hollies had lots of new growth that wasn't conditioned to sub-freezing temperatures. On the other hand, Johnson Grass growing outside my garden fence and attempting to creep into the garden froze back to the ground. Of course it isn't dead, but at least it has been set back for a while. For future reference, to find row cover and frost blanket fabric in large enough sizes to cover anything you can envision, you can visit the website of Agricultural Solutions. That's where I find my frost blanket. I bought it in 12' widths, but they have it available in many widths---some of which are so huge that they clearly are aimed at commercial farms. Most places have it in only more narrow widths. I like the 12' width because you can cover a row of fairly tall (well, fairly tall for early in the season) plants with it. If you buy a roll they have it folded in half on the roll, which helps keep the shipping charges lower since it is a box a little over 6' long instead of 12' long. The very first row cover fabric I bought around a decade ago was 6' wide which sounds good, but really isn't. I was using it on 4' wide beds, so I couldn't cover a whole bed with it once the plants were any taller than 11-12". I've discovered that with row cover, wider is better, particularly since I grow in raised beds that are mostly 4' wide and often I have some plants that are knee-high to waist-high by the time the last threat of frost has passed in the first week of May. If the strong storms the next few days don't pound our plants into the ground or carry them away with the wind, we all might get to begin the month of May with gardens that are in pretty good shape. I like the idea of cooler temperatures. The longer we stay cool in Spring, the better the cool-season crops will produce, and the better the fruit set on the tomato plants. I did look at my Accuweather forecast the last couple of days since it goes out farther than the NWS forecast on the Norman webpage and farther than our local TV forecast, and it showed my lowest low next week of 43. Today that's been raised to 45. I'm starting to feel a lot better about next week's weather, but that doesn't mean I will become complacent and stop watching the forecast. I'll be watching it like a hawk. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: One Source for Large Sizes of Row Cover This post was edited by okiedawn on Wed, Apr 23, 14 at 12:09
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ReedBaize
11 years ago
I might as well trash all 30 of the tomato plants in the garage if this is the case. They will be so rootbound by then it won't do anything to plant them.
Lisa_H OK
11 years ago
Reed, put them in the ground! They will most likely be fine. If you are going to trash them anyway, this will give them a chance to show up the weather. Just throw a sheet over them next week.

Lisa
ReedBaize
11 years ago
Lisa,

I guess that is true. I'll put them out this weekend. My forecast isn't showing that next week will be much colder than today. I'm showing a cold Thursday and then a mild week next week.

Reed
helenh
11 years ago
I am getting my wall of water things ready. My plants are growing past the lights to the next shelf. Trouble is those plants are too big, but I have some smaller ones that will fit in the wall of water.
sammy zone 7 Tulsa
11 years ago
My tomato plants are in large pots. I was thinking of putting saran wrap around them - or baggies, then pillow cases. At what temp would I need to do that.

The plants are in big containers, and I put mulch up rather high to keep the winds from knocking them down. I was wondering if the mulch (pine bark) would protect them.

Sammy
susanlynne48
11 years ago
This does not compute.....

Susan
sammy zone 7 Tulsa
11 years ago
Susan, does mine not compute? I only mulched the tomato plants, not the containers. I am asking about putting baggies or pillow cases on the top to protect them. Maybe I am making a mistake in my writing. Hmm
Sammy
wulfletons
11 years ago
This is my first year gardening here after moving to OK from Albuquerque. The golden rule in ABQ is that you never plant before Mother's Day, so all these late freezes are making me feel right at home!
I did plant some bush beans last week in the ground, and they are sprouting now. I'm guessing I should cover these with sheets on the night we are going to freeze?
Krista
p_mac
11 years ago
Lee - you are a most WELCOME addition to this group! We will NOT shoot the messenger. Message very appreciated!

Everyone needs to keep in mind the ground temp in relation to the size of the plants in the ground. (Lisa - I know you got this!) Plant away, fellow gardeners...as long as you've got a reserve cover on hand. With the ground temps and a cover, your plants will be fine. Lee's just keeping us abreast of the weather models that the rest of us can't even begin to understand! Personally, I've very appreciative of the interpretation. I don't do "weather-speak"....unless it applies to achy joints. Heh!
mulberryknob
11 years ago
When I put my maters in the ground last Sun the projected low for us was 31; now it's 27. I have bunches of 4 and 5 gallon buckets which will cover the plants. I also have lots of half and whole gallon jugs to fill with hot water to set under the buckets, so I think the maters will be ok. And if not I have backups for most of them.

But the fruit! What am I to do about the fruit? The almonds and plums are already gone but the peaches, pears, cherries, apples, grapes, strawberries and figs are all in bloom. AAACCCCHHH. I'll put sheets over the strawberries and fig bushes but the fruit trees are all pretty big. We may tie old feed sacks around some of the limbs and try to save something at least.

And baby chicks are due to arrive Friday morn. Dh plans to insulate the brooder box and turn on the heat lamps Thursday to get it good and warm in there.
Lisa_H OK
11 years ago
Hey, I grew stuff via winter sowing....I'm a big fan of planting in cold temps! :) As quick as these cold waves are, a cover should work, just don't forget to uncover!

My garden is greening up all over. I'm not covering anything. My risky personality only comes out in my gardening! lol.
susanlynne48
11 years ago
No, no, Sammy....I just mean this whole cold weather thing with one or two nights of freezing temps does not compute and I prefer staying in denial now every time we get yet another freezing temp report........ugh is right.....

Susan
wxcrawler
Original Author
11 years ago
It now looks like the airmass behind the cold front slated for Monday/Tuesday will not be quite as cold as previously forecast. There still could be frost across parts of OK, but freezing temperatures look less likely. Hopefully this is a sign that the season is finally winning out and a more normal Spring will commence.

Lee
scottokla
11 years ago
Good!
chickencoupe
11 years ago
I couldn't agree with your "ugh" any more, Lee. It's amazing. My friends in Minnesota remind me they're still suffering a snow storm!

Lisa makes a good point being "a 100 before we know it".

All in stride, I guess.

Bonnie
wxcrawler
Original Author
11 years ago
This was a double post from before....not sure how I did that.

Lee

This post was edited by wxcrawler on Thu, Apr 18, 13 at 22:13

UGH! Looks like more cold air next week

Comments (18)

Lisa_H OK

Okiedawn OK Zone 7

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UGH! Looks like more cold air next week

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